Willy Sellekaerts

Willy Sellekaerts, formerly of Mt. Pleasant, passed away Saturday, Oct. 1, 2011, at Lincoln Haven Nursing Community in Lincoln, Michigan. His funeral will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 8, at Charles R. Lux Family Funeral Home in Mt. Pleasant with Deacon Larry Fussman officiating. The family will receive friends from 9 a.m. until the service begins. Burial will be in St. Henry Cemetery in Rosebush. Willy was born March 12, 1941, in Leuven, Belgium, son of the late Guillaume and Constance (Vanderstraten) Sellekaerts. He received his bachelors degree from the University of Brussels, masters degree from the University of Michigan and Ph. D. from Michigan State University. Willy worked for a number of universities during his career including Ottawa University in Canada and Princeton in New Jersey. He taught at the Wharton School of Business in Pennsylvania, Temple University, the American University in Washington D.C. and Mary Baldwin College in Staunton, VA. At Central Michigan University Willy was a professor of Economics. He then became the Chairman of Economics at Susquehanna University in Selinsgrove, PA and retired as the Dean of the College of Business at Lamar University in Beaumont, TX. Willy is survived by four children, Ludo Sellekaerts and Katia Sellekaerts, both of Belgium, Erika (Tim) Petrik of Kailua, HI and Arnout (Tobi) Sellekaerts of Kettering, England; and four grandchildren, Chynna Wuest, Benjamin Petrik, Isabelle Petrik and Calypso Sellekaerts. He was preceded in death by his brother, Francois Sellekaerts; and sister, Jeanne Verluyten.